


Sea of Hearts

by BeanieBaby



Series: Thor: Ragnarok [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Ragnarok, Pre-Slash, Protective Loki, Translation Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 12:52:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12631455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeanieBaby/pseuds/BeanieBaby
Summary: Thor made his way around the bed, only to trip over the edge and go sprawling onto the floor.“Stupid depth perception issues,” He cursed, rubbing at his nose.The new eyepatch rolled to a stop at Heimdall’s feet and he bent down to pick it up. The Gate Keeper tossed the golden eyepatch at Loki and jerked a finger at the figure still spread-eagled on the floor, “make sure he gets to the bridge in one piece, will you, Loki?”“Of course,” Smirking, Asgard’s second prince rounded the bed gracefully and crouched down next to his flailing brother, “don’t be such a baby. You’ll get used to it.”(Post-Ragnarok Fluff!)





	Sea of Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Море сердец](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12760029) by [Sangrill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangrill/pseuds/Sangrill)



> I LOVED LOVED the film. It was so beautiful. A bit rushed on plot, but I loved the brotherly interactions and how they fleshed out Thor's personality a bit. 
> 
> But I was kind of sad when it was over, so this is my wishful thinking. Lots of fluff. I was bursting to write something even though I'm swamped by homework. 
> 
> I want a show with just Thor and Loki adventures, sigh. 
> 
> This is very very very pre-slash.

“You know, I half expected you to have disappeared by now,” Heimdall’s voice was gentle, but the words still stun. Loki stubbornly kept his eyes glued to dark expanse of space outside the ship window and ignored Heimdall’s searching gaze.

“It seems that you are not alone in the choice to remove yourself from the festivities,” Heimdall went on, “your brother-”

“I would think losing an eye would curb anyone’s enthusiasm for parties, wouldn’t it?” Loki snapped. He knew what Heimdall was trying to do, but Loki took the bait anyway. He seemed to be doing a lot of that recently.

“Hmm, but that is not the source of your upset,” Heimdall mused, “something else is bothering you, child.”

Loki’s head whipped around. “Do not call me that." He hissed.

“What, child?” Heimdall’s golden eyes were glowing with mirth, “Why, I recall a certain _child_ once declared that I was his most favorite Asga-”

A flash of cold steel slipped from between Loki’s pale fingers. “Do not finish that sentence if you value your life, Gate Keeper.”

Heimdall lifted an eyebrow, completely unfazed by his hostility. Loki’s face burned.

“Besides,” He added gruffly after an embarrassing pause, pocketing his dagger and turning his gaze back to the black void outside, “that was thousands of years ago.”

Just as Thor had once dreamt of joining the Valkyries, Loki had looked up to the wise and all-seeing sentry of the Bifröst Bridge. Heimdall had never treated him like a child, and when Loki, the top of his tiny silky head barely reaching his mother’s hip, had accompanied Frigga on one of her visit, Heimdall had introduced him to the wonders of knowledge and books, endless books.

“Yes, thousands of years,” Heimdall agreed, “I’ve watch the both of you grow from wide-eyed children to strong and capable men, Loki. Odin and Frigga would be so proud.”

“Proud?” Loki snorted in disbelief, “Have you gone senile in your old age, Heimdall? I usurped Odin's throne and tossed him into a nursing home on Midgard. Proud is the last word he would use.”

“It was not all bad,” Heimdall pointed out, “Odin quite enjoyed their poker nights.”

“You are mad,” Loki was staring at Heimdall like he had sprouted a second head, “you are all mad, crazy, fool-”

“And yet you have not left us,” Heimdall said, watching the light suddenly drain from Loki’s eyes. “Was it something your brother said that upset you, Loki?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be all-seeing?” Loki shot back bitterly, his thin shoulders hunching unconsciously as he averted his eyes.

“I was a bit preoccupied,” Heimdall replied mildly.

The silence between them stretched like a thick dense blanket, but not stiflingly so. It was a calm comforting silence that reminded Loki of dusty old parchment and sunbeams streaming into the wide floor-to-ceiling windows of Asgard’s libraries. Heimdall had always had that effect on him, no matter how much Loki despised him.

“He said he had moved on,” Loki finally caved, voice cracking on the last syllable, “and that I had not changed at all, that he was no longer going to force me to come home.”

“He no longer needs me.” The words tasted bitter on his tongue.

“I agree,” After a brief pause, Heimdall’s hand, warm and solid, landed on Loki’s armor-clad shoulder, “you have not changed, Loki.”

When he whirled around in angry disbelief, Heimdall’s smile was fond and wistful.

“The smart, compassionate boy I remember is still in here,” He tapped the bronzed plate over Loki’s chest with his forefinger. Loki recoiled, cheeks reddening.

“Your words mean nothing to me, Gate Keeper.” He snarled, averting his eyes. Heimdall laughed.

"Thor gave you a chance to disappear, to finally be freed of him, and yet you chose willingly to come back and fight by his side, Loki,” He pointed out, “I know Odin was not the best of fathers, but he did love you as a son.”

“I did not come back for him,” Loki blurted out hotly before he could stop himself.

“Of course not,” Heimdall patted him on the back amicably, “you chose your brother over freedom. Now you’ll never rid yourself of Thor.”

“What?” Loki asked, but Heimdall merely peered back at him innocently.

The Gate Keeper tapped his left temple and turned to make his way back to the ship’s bridge, "I do have to say that you have passed splendidly.”

Loki watched the man leave in silence.

_Passed?_

Then he remembered Thor’s triumphant smile atop that crumbling balcony, the light shimmering in his one good eye as he watched Loki descend from the rescue ship.

That scheming son of a-

 

* * *

 

“You played me!”

Thor didn’t even flinch when Loki kicked down the door to his quarters. He turned around guiltily, right cheek bulging with half-chewed food, and as Loki stared, the God of Thunder lifted his hand to quickly stuff another piece of chicken into his mouth.

“Hmm?” Thor blinked back at him through the one good eye left on his face, and the sight of that blackened crater drained all the anger out of Loki’s chest.

“Why didn’t you go to the healers?” He snapped, crossing the room in five strides to wrestle the half-eaten drumstick out of Thor’s greasy fingers, tipping his head back to inspect the wound.

“The healers are busy dealing with everyone else,” His brother replied in a muffled grunt, “besides, I was really hungry after the battle.”

Loki covered Thor's moving lips with one hand to protect himself from the dangerous projectile of breadcrumbs, and using the other hand, prodded gently at the burnt flesh. Thor flinched, his large hand instinctively lifting to wrap around Loki’s wrist.

“Don’t move,” Loki muttered, searching his mind for the appropriate healing spell. Green tendrils of magic flowed from the tips of his fingers, slowly weaving a dense web over the charred skin. Thor groaned low in his throat, fingers tightening into a painful grip around Loki’s wrist. Sweat beaded across his brow as the flesh in his empty socket slowly knitted and closed. They were both panting by the time Loki removed his hand and Thor let go of him with some difficulty, leaving behind the imprint of his fingers around Loki’s metal wrist guard. Loki pursed his lips at the sight.

“Are you really here?” Thor latched onto the edge of Loki’s tunic.

“What do you think, oaf?” Loki snapped back, glaring. He quickly looked away. The missing eye was still jarringly painful to look at. Cursing inwardly at himself for the rare display of sentiment, he cupped his palm over Thor’s empty socket and whispered another spell. When Loki removed his hand, a dull golden eyepatch had materialized in its place.

He smiled sardonically, “now you look even more like him.”

Thor bowed his head at this. He had caught Loki’s hand between his own, and was examining the long thin fingers, rubbing at the palm of Loki’s hand with a weapon-calloused thumb. Then, to Loki’s surprise, he lifted Loki’s fingers and brushed his lips against the back of his hand.

“Thank you,” Thor said quietly.

Loki swallowed thickly, heat rising in his cheeks until he saw what Thor was really doing.

“You’re wiping your face on the back of my hand, aren’t you?” He asked flatly.

The big lug had the audacity to smile sweetly at him.

“Why do I even put up with you?” Thor let him go, and Loki peered down at the shiny layer of chicken grease with undisguised revulsion. Thor laughed, the sound loud and bright in the small metal cabin where he had haphazardly tossed his meager belongings, and it seemed to ignite the dormant agitation within Loki’s chest.

“How could you still smile in a situation like this?” Loki hissed, “you’ve lost everything! Your home, your father and friends! Everything!”

“Not everything,” Thor replied gently, his good eye crinkling with the force of his smile. One large hand settled at the nape of Loki’s neck, drawing him forward so that their foreheads touched.

“Thank the Gods I still have you,” Thor breathed, his eye slipping shut.

This close, Loki could hear the faint sounds of Thor’s heartbeat, solid and strong. He lifted a hand to push him away, but the moment his palm touched the still warm plate on Thor’s shoulder, the strength seemed to seep out his his limb.

“You win,” Loki whispered, voice cracking.

“What?” Thor pulled back, confused.

“Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to pick you over everything else.” Loki muttered bitterly.

“Of course not!” Thor recoiled, looking both offended and hurt. Loki eyed the blue sparks dancing across Thor’s clenched fists wearily.

“Sorry, I still can’t control it very well. Strong emotions seem to draw out the lightning,” Thor bit his lip and widened the distance between them. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, Loki.”

“As if you could,” He sneered immediately, taking a step forward in challenge.

Thor’s smile, when it resurfaces, was painfully fond, “oh, Loki. I know it took me way to long to figure things out, but now I know.”

“Know what?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“What I was doing before was wrong,” Thor explained earnestly, “trying to bring you back home by force, thinking that as long as you were physically by my side, I could keep you here.” He paused, now standing inches from Loki, “I love you, Loki, no matter what, and loving you means being able to let you go. That was why I left without you. I wanted us to start from scratch. If you came back to me, it would be of your own volition, and if you decide to stay, that would also be of your choosing.”

“What are you saying?” Loki could not believe what he was hearing.

“I’m saying that I am letting you go,” Thor cupped his pale cheek with an affectionate hand, “I will always be here if you want a home to come back to, brother, but it is not my right, or anyone’s for that matter, to clip your wings.”

“And, and if I decide to wreck havoc on your precious Midgard?” Loki grabs his wrist, squeezing tightly.

“Then, I will hunt you down, we will fight, I will stop you, and afterward, we will part ways or better yet, grab a pint to drink,” Thor replied cheerfully. Loki fought not to roll his eyes at the cliché answer. He squawked when Thor lifted him off the ground in a tight hug, “I know now that you love me too much to really want to kill me, brother.”

“That is not true! Take that back, you stupid-” Loki wheezed, clawing and kicking. Thor merely laughed.

Loki was red in the face when Thor finally set him down. “I believe it is time for you to be truly free, Loki, and if that means you parting ways with me, then so be it.”

Loki squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. 

“What do you want?” He finally asked.

Thor blinked in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“What do you want me to do?” Loki demanded, his heart in his throat, “and be honest. I’ll know if you are lying. You have always been a terrible liar.”

The God of Thunder studied him, searching for something in Loki’s tense, scowling face.

Then, Thor smiled and said simply, “I want you to stay.”

 

* * *

 

Of course it was Thor’s stomach that ruined the moment, letting out a thunderous roaring protest of hunger.

They ended up sitting on the floor next to one another, passing the jug of wine between the two of them and demolishing the plate of food Thor had sneaked from the kitchens. Loki smacked him on the side of the head when he caught Thor trying to wipe his soiled fingers on the back of his cloak.

And when Heimdall came to fetch Thor for his speech as their new leader, he saw only the top of their heads peeking out behind the bed, bent together and whispering like children. He cleared his throat and tried not to smile when Loki shot out from behind the bed. Thor’s cheeks were pink when he sheepishly scrambled to his feet after his brother.

“Apologies, Heimdall. I will be right with you,” He smiled fondly at Loki and made his way around the bed, only to trip over the edge and go sprawling onto the floor.

“Stupid depth perception issues,” Thor cursed, rubbing at his nose.

The new eyepatch rolled to a stop at Heimdall’s feet and he bent down to pick it up, examining the light runes etched across the surface.

Loki’s name written in old Dwarvish flashed up at him. Thor couldn’t read Dwarvish.

He caught the Trickster’s eyes across the room and Loki crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. Heimdall tossed the golden eyepatch back and jerked a finger at the figure still spread-eagled on the floor, “make sure he gets to the bridge in one piece, will you, Loki?”

“Of course,” Smirking, Asgard’s second prince rounded the bed gracefully and crouched down next to his flailing brother, “don’t be such a baby. You’ll get used to it. You always do.”

Heimdall smiled as he turned to leave.

 

* * *

 

“How do I look?” Thor asked anxiously. His fingers brushed over his tunic restlessly. Behind them, Thor could hear the soft murmurings of their people.

Loki’s hands, cool and dry, settled on his shoulders, and the cacophony of noise quieted in Thor’s head. He met Loki’s steady gaze. 

“Like a king,” Loki said.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I might add another chapter about their lives on the ship, and Thor stumbling into things and Loki fussing after him, but we'll see. 
> 
> Leave me a comment below!


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